Social and Cultural Implications of the Development and Use of New Media

In researching this topic, we almost immediately concluded that new media’s impact on culture, society, commerce, learning, politics, etc. is vastly greater than we had originally thought: it’s immense. Below are just a few of the cultural and societal implications.

In M/Cyclopedia of New Media, an article entitled “Cultural and Social Implications of Personal Blogging” speaks of how women in Iran talk freely in blogs about their culture’s taboo subjects and are also free to talk about opinions, dreams, ideas, etc. that they would not be allowed to publicly express otherwise. Additionally, blogging in the Middle East is a quickly growing phenomenon used not only by women who have been repressed and unable to freely express themselves but also by men who have been repressed as well.

New media is changing how citizens participate in their local communities and countries. “Technology, Media, and the Next Generation in the Middle East” by Jon W. Anderson, Catholic University of America talks about how the “parameters of citizenship” are changing throughout the Arab world as a result of new media. Changes, though different perhaps, are occurring throughout the rest of the world as well as citizens get more information, information from more diverse sources, have immediate and ready access to voicing opinions to government officials, can communicate freely with others, etc.

New media broadens the definitions of community and social relationships. No longer are communities confined by geography, space, or proximity. “Virtual communities” are increasing and are becoming “mainstream” for those who have access to new media. Social relationships are becoming more heterogeneous as individuals communicate with others from places around the globe and are not limited, again, by geography, space, or proximity. Interestingly, heterogeneous social relationships may ultimately result in a more homogeneous “global culture”. The routine and immediate communication with others from all over the world may alter the perceptions that people have of their own communities, cities, countries. New media is changing how people interact and relate and how they think of themselves and their place in the world.

New media is also changing business, finance, and commerce; how we learn; how we create and process information; etc. Global markets have resulted in the ability to produce cheaper products. (M/Cyclopedia of New Media “Global Communication”) In North Carolina, which was traditionally a furniture and textile manufacturing state, the entire workforce development landscape has changed dramatically as a result of “off shoring” many furniture and textile manufacturing tasks which is a result of globalization brought on by new media technologies.

A number of articles we read spoke of how new media is changing “centers of status and power”. There are articles and books about how new media technologies are impacting world religions and how individuals go about formulating and communicating their beliefs.

As we stated in the beginning, the impact of new media on culture and society is vastly greater than we had imagined. In some ways that's a little unsettling, but we read about so many positive ways that new media affects culture and society that we are hopeful that the good far surpasses the bad. I hope we're not being Pollyannas!

Sources:

Web Gives Voice to Iranian Women
Cultural and Social Implications of Personal Blogging
Global Communication
Working Papers on New Media and Information Technology in the Middle East
The International Study Commission on Media, Religion, and Culture
Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

Old Media Vs. New Media

Old media is generally used to describe traditional media: television and radio broadcasts, print (newspapers, magazines, books), film, etc. New media includes but is not limited to the Internet and World Wide Web, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, online communities, e-mail, video games, virtual realities, interactive media, DVD’s and CD-ROM’s, mobile or wireless computing, highly interactive user interfaces, telephone and digital data integration, other forms of multimedia popular from the 1990’s on.

Old media is perceived as being static, easily dated, sluggish, passive, less accessible, one-way communication while new media is perceived as being highly interactive and participatory, customizable, dynamic, multi-sensory, and often available in real time.

Old media and media technologies have generally been thought of as being separate and distinct. For example, television companies broadcast television programs and phone companies dealt with telephone communication. But the boundaries among old media providers have blurred over time as new media and old media integrate. This process is called convergence which John Hartley defines as “the integration of telephony, computing and media (broadcasting) technologies and thence the integration of the businesses, markets and the social interactions associated with them”. (M/Cyclopedia of New Media) . It may be this convergence rather than new media itself that has the most social, cultural, and geo-political implications.

Sources:

M/Cyclopedia of New Media

What Is New Media?

A cursory definition of "new media" is provided by Wikipedia: "New media usually refers to a group of relatively recent mass media based on new information technology.” (Wikipedia)

Most think new media includes but is not limited to the following: the Internet and World Wide Web, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, online communities, e-mail, video games, virtual realities, interactive media, DVD’s and CD-ROM’s, mobile or wireless computing, highly interactive user interfaces, blogs, telephone and digital data integration, other forms of multimedia popular from the 1990s on.

But new media is much more than the latest technologies. New media has the "power" to impact society, culture, politics, and everyday life. Its dimensions are at the same time both global and local; contemporary and historical; theoretical and practical; communal and individual. New media encompasses issues such as interactivity, virtuality, consumption, innovation, regulation, cyber-cultures, accessibility, identity in cyberspace, time and space in a global culture, and the politics of cyberspace. (New Media and Society, 1999)

Sources:

Wikipedia
New Media and Society

McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message"

McLuhan states in his article "The Medium is the Message" that any medium is an extension of ourself. Media is neither good nor bad. Only the intentions of the creator of the message can be good or bad. The creator chooses the medium/media in which to deliver the message. This choice of medium is important and can have social, psychological and cultural impacts on the receiver(s) of the message. The same content delivered with various media can have a completely different meanings. The message is dependent on which medium is chosen. McLuhan uses the example of electric light to support his beliefs. - MW

In McLuhan’s article “The Medium is the Message”, I believe that he is saying that regardless of the message, it is the medium that drives and shapes, to an equal or greater extent, societal and cultural changes. Messages have been delivered a variety of ways over time from cave drawings to today’s internet, but the medium and its relationship to accessibility, time, universality, and as an extension of ourselves, etc. has tremendous influence on social and cultural frameworks. A message is a message—thoughts, ideas, or information put into words. But the medium can alter, detract from, or enhance the message; affect the message’s accessibility and usability; affect the speed at which the message is delivered, processed, and synthesized; alter one’s perception of the messenger; affect the perception of time; and can make more or less demands on higher order thinking skills. - MH

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